The Stand Off (25 page)

“Why Lux?” he whispered to
himself, but he knew why. He’d tried to destroy her building which led her
straight to his enemy. He stood there for a moment, trying to gain his
composure. He felt crushed and defeated; he’d never felt so low. He sat the
file on the bed and headed into the closet. He unlocked it, walked in, and felt
his heart drop at the sight of her. She’d managed to do the one thing that no
other woman, besides his mother, had ever been able to do to him … she’d
betrayed him. Moreover, the worst part was, he had opened his life and his
heart for her to do so.

“What did you do to him?” Lux
asked when he walked in. She sat with her back to the wall… glaring at him.

“You have feelings for him?” Dean
stood there momentarily stunned by her concern for his enemy.

“No,” she answered honestly as
she shook her head.

“Liar.” He looked to her clothing
rack and grabbed a long black scarf. He quickly wrapped it around her mouth and
tied it against the back of her head. “No more lies.”

He picked her up, slung her over
his shoulder, and left the closet. He grabbed the folder with the incriminating
pictures off the bed and headed out of the room. Dean left from the side
entrance of the building as he carried Lux to his car. He laid her on the back
seat and twisted the seatbelts to lock her in. He pulled to the street out
front and stopped when he saw the scene playing out in front of the music hall.

Clifton was naked, hand cuffed,
and bleeding from the nose. He was running around the yard trying to avoid the
mini firecrackers that Pixie was throwing at his feet. Graves and Kiki giggled
as they filmed the whole thing.

Dean’s frown never left his face
as he sped off.

“You should learn to pick your
fights wisely, Clifton,” Kiki said condescendingly.

“Trying to manipulate women never turns out good for sketchy men,” Pixie sang
as she threw a larger firecracker at his feet.

“Smile for the camera,” Graves
said when Clifton sped by her, narrowly avoiding the last explosive.

“And you better keep your mouth
closed,” Kiki warned him.

“I know how badly you’re itching
to turn Dean in for this, but you better not, or we will release all this damning
evidence against you.” Pixie grinned maliciously.

“We’ll also let the world know
that you were the one who leaked those fake pictures,” Graves added.

“Not to mention releasing this
video of you. Frolicking naked with fire crackers isn’t a good look.” Pixie
chuckled as she threw another firecracker at his feet.

Dean drove for what seemed like
hours to Lux; she was positive they were far from the city. Despite her awkward
position, she didn’t mind the drive. From the backseat she could feel the
intensity of his anger, and she hoped the length of the drive would calm him
down a little.

Dean sat silently fuming in the
front seat. He kept looking in the mirror to see Lux, and he felt a sharp pain
in his chest each time he did. He kept the scarf tied around her mouth so that
she couldn’t speak and turned the music up loud in case she was able to make
any sound. He did not even want to hear her voice right now and hadn’t said one
word to her since he’d put her back there.

He turned into the woods and
followed the long dirt road down to the small dock. He parked his car before
the water and got out to grab Lux from the back seat. He pulled her out, slung
her over his shoulder again, and headed down the dock to his large boat. He
carefully got into his boat and sat her on the seat closest to the front. He
unhooked the boat from the dock and started the engine. He immediately stopped
the boat when he heard her screaming. He turned away from the wheel, walked
over to Lux, and kneeled down before her.

“One more scream, and I will
strip you naked and fuck you hard until you settle down… or pass out,” He
threatened as he glared at her.

She could see the rage in his
eyes and knew she should tread lightly. Her instincts told her to take heed, he
was not himself. He was furious with her, but she didn’t understand why.

Her curiosity was more powerful
than her fear, so she screamed again, “Why?”

Although it was muffled by the
layers of silk, he could make out her word.

“Why?” he repeated what she said,
and she nodded. “You’ll find out soon enough.”

He stood up and walked back to
the wheel.

It didn’t take long before he was
parking the boat at another dock with a few other boats. He grabbed Lux again
and threw her back over his shoulder before he got off the boat. He put his
large hand across her rear end to keep her still, and Lux felt her vagina stir
despite her dilemma.

“Are you insane, you… wanton
tart? Seriously? Now? He’s furious at you and you don’t even know why. He’s
thinking about revenge, and you’re thinking about him sliding that thick finger
inside of your…”
she shifted her weight as her clit ignited at the thought
.
“Damn!”

He marched hard across the front
yard, bouncing Lux mercilessly on his shoulder. Lux tried to see where they were
going but between her mound of hair and his large back, she couldn’t see much.
When he ran up the front steps, she attempted to wrap her dangling legs around
him to prevent herself from bouncing too hard. He rewarded her with a quick
slap to the ass.

Dean stormed into the house and
headed down stairs to the exercise room. As far as exercise rooms went it was
sorely lacking. It was a very large room with a treadmill, a weight set, a
punching bag, a speed bag, a mini fridge and a large television; but that was
the extent of the exercise equipment.

Still holding Lux tightly, he
walked to the middle of the room and looked up at the large punching bag. It
hung from a thick, sturdy chain attached to the ceiling. The bag alone weighted
more than Lux, not to mention the force with which he’d always used to punch
it, so he knew for a fact that it would easily hold her weight. Although he
preferred his room at home for these types of activities, this would have to
do. The cottage was isolated, and there would be no unscheduled interruptions.
Holding her even tighter, he reached up and unhooked the punching bag from the
large hook.

He slid her down his body until
her feet touched the floor. He spun her around and unbuckled the belt that held
her wrists together behind her back. Pulling her arms before her, he refastened
the belt around her wrists. He raised her arms above her head and secured the
belt to the hook on the end of the ceiling chain. He weaved the hook through
the belt straps to prevent her from moving too much.

A million different thoughts
raced through Lux’s mind as she watched him hook the belt to the ceiling chain.
First and foremost, what the hell had happened? How did she end up in this
situation? Her body was tightly stretched, but she was thankful that her feet
touched the ground. When he was finished, he stood before her and removed the
scarf from her mouth.

“Why?” was her only question.

“One more word, and I will put
the scarf back over your mouth,” he said with deadened eyes.

Lux felt her heart flutter and
her stomach churn. That little sparkle in his eyes whenever she was near was no
longer there. She felt nothing but rage and disappointment emanating from
behind the thick wall he’d suddenly built around himself. He had the same cold
demeanor as he did when she had first met him. Except now it was worse; now it
seemed more personal.

“I’ll be back,” he said as he
headed towards the door.

“Where are you going? Dean!” she
yelled.

“If you say one more word, I’m
going to shove something into your mouth,” he warned her before he left the
room.

Dean walked into the kitchen and
exhaled what seemed like a week’s worth of air. It felt like he’d been holding
his breath since he’d found those pictures in Lux’s dresser drawer. The night’s
series of events had unfolded in a shocking manner that had literally stunned
him. Everything had happened so fast and he’d reacted so rashly that there had
been no time for preparation. Once Dean found the pictures in Lux’s dresser
drawer, he’d been so hell bent on getting her to the cabin that he didn’t think
about the things they would need. There were lots of canned foods in the house,
but he needed something with less preparation. Luckily, there was a
family-owned grocery store that served a large variety of needs. It was located
on the mainland but for an additional price, they delivered.

He took a deep breath in an
attempt to calm his raging nerves before he called the grocery store to place
an order.

“Vick’s variety; Vicky speaking,”
he heard the owner’s daughter say in a singsong voice.

“It’s Dean Blake,” was all that
he got out before she interrupted him.

“Well hello Dean, I haven’t heard
from you in a long time. Welcome back.”

“I need some things delivered to
the cabin.”

“Do you want your usual order?”

“Yes, but I also need quick
foods,” he explained.

“You mean like already prepared
meals you can put in the oven?”

“Quicker than that.”

“Microwave meals?” she asked.

“Yes, and I want a lot of them.”

“Any specific requirements?”

“I want a variety. Give me two of
each different type.”

“We have at least a dozen
different kinds.”

“Perfect,” he said in a flat
tone.

“You know you really do have
perfect timing Dean. Claudia just arrived last week, would you like me to have
her deliver the order to you?”

“No,” Dean responded quickly.

“Did you just say no?” she asked
as if she’d not heard him correctly.

“Yes.”

“Did you hear me correctly?
Claudia is here, and she brought her bag of tricks.”

“I heard you. I’ll also need
soap, shampoo, toothpaste, and 2 toothbrushes,” he continued.

“Two?”

“Yes. Do you still sell women’s
clothing? I need a lot of clothing and bathing suits.” He was beyond bored with
her unnecessary questions and his irritation was beginning to rise. He couldn’t
stomach the thought of sex with anyone but Lux, despite what she’d done to him.
It was just one more reason to make Lux pay for her betrayal.

“Oh now I understand why you’re
not interested in Claudia. You already have a little entertainment for the
night. Hold on Dean,” she said, not bothering to move the phone from her mouth,
“He already has company Claudia.” After a momentary pause, she continued to
speaking to Dean, “Dean, Claudia said that she would love to join your little
party.”

“Absolutely not; I’m with my
fiancée.” The words flew out of him mouth before he’d given it a thought;
shocking him as much as it shocked Vicky. Although it seemed crazy to him now,
not long ago it didn’t seem too farfetched. Lux would be the only woman he
would ever consider marrying; too bad she was working for his enemy. Too bad
she was a lying traitor.

“Fiancée?” Vicky gasped loudly,
“Shit, I didn’t even know that you dated. I thought it was strictly sex with
you Blake boys.”

“Do you still sell women’s
clothing or not?” He asked with obvious irritation. The conversation was taking
up to much of his time; he needed to get back to Lux.

“We sure do. Is there any
particular style that you want?”

“No, just send a few different
styles.”

“Gotcha. We also have a new,
sheer white bikini…very sexy. It’s perfect for a bride to be.”

“Send it.”

“Okay, I’ll start working on your
order now and then I’ll bring it right over. Oh… and congratulations on your
engagement,’ she said with sincerity.

“Thank you,” he said before he
hung up.

He was ready to head back to Lux
when his phone rang. He looked to see Johann’s name pop up on the screen and
knew he had to answer it. He’d planned on calling him a little later, but it
was best to get it over with now. Then he could focus on Lux.

“Yeah,” Dean answered.

“Damn Dean, where have you been?
I’ve been trying to get ahold of you for hours. Vaughn is losing it, that
picture is spreading like wild fire. It’s on every news channel and every
magazine across the USA. His ex is blaming him, and he’s not taking it too
well,” Johann informed him.

“He’ll be alright; he’s been
through worse,” Dean stated indifferently.

“That’s what I told him. He
should have been nicer to that girl, and she wouldn’t have left. So where are
you exactly?”

“Same place I’ll be for the next
week. I need you to take over for me at work. Everything you need is in my
desk.”

“What’s going on?”

“I found out who leaked those
pictures of me and Vaughn’s fiancée.”

“Who?” Johann barked.

“Michael Bender.”

“You mean Michael Bender the
psycho who tried to destroy you because you fucked his fiancée?”

“Yes.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me; I
thought that jackass got enough last time he tried to go against you.”

“Obviously not.”

“I thought we had gotten rid of
him once and for all,” Johann snarled, obviously irritated.

“I don’t think he ever left. He’s
been right under our noses all along.”

“How the fuck is that even
possible?”

“I’ll explain it all later but
right now I need you to take a deeper look into this for me. I need to know how
deeply Lux is involved.”

“Lux Hart?”

“Yes.”

“How would she be involved with
Bender? She doesn’t even know him.”

“Yes she does. He was her private
detective; the one who got her the pictures of me and the governor’s wife,”
Dean explained with no emotion.

“Are you serious?” Johann was
obviously taken aback.

“Unfortunately.”

“Damn, I’m sorry Dean.”

“Don’t feel sorry for me; feel
sorry for them,” Dean said in a deadly tone.

“Who would have ever suspected
Lux would be working with Bender?”

“Definitely not me; she’s the
perfect distraction. It was a good plan; I would have never suspected her.”
Dean gave them credit, despite the hatred building inside of him.

“Are you sure about this? I just
find it too hard to believe. She’s been nothing but brutally honest.”

“I heard it from Bender’s mouth.”

“Since when do you trust anything
Bender says?” Johann sneered.

“He was coming to pick her up to
take her to a business meeting.”

“That doesn’t mean that she’s
involved. Maybe she doesn’t even know what’s going on. Bender’s sneaky, he
could have tricked her.”

“I found the pictures of me and
Vaughn’s ex in her dresser drawer.”

“Oh fuck.”

“Yeah.” Dean felt the bile rise
in his throat.

“Where is Lux now?”

“I’m keeping her here with me
until I figure out how deeply she’s involved.”

“Good idea,” Johann agreed.

“Finding out her level of
involvement is a priority,” Dean emphasized.

“Don’t worry, I’ll find out.”

“I’ll get ahold of you soon,”
Dean finished before ending the call.

He headed into the downstairs
office and went straight for the closet. In the closet he kept a dresser full
of unused sexual paraphernalia. He grabbed the small duffle bag and packed a
few things inside before he headed back out. He had just made it to the door
when he heard Lux’s phone ring. He grabbed her cell phone and saw about a dozen
texts from Pixie. He sent a quick text back to her.