A Wifey for the Bad Boy(4)

"Don't worry," James assured her. He pulled out what looked like a small  black flashlight with a small metal point at the end, and he raised it  against the glass as the other two men pulled out their own and followed  suit. She watched as they suddenly thrust the things against the  window, jumping as the glass shattered all around them.

"Here," James pointed. "The fire escape."

Sure enough, a thin grated landing was just a foot below the window, the  first of many that led down the building like a great black ladder.  James stepped out onto it first, the platform rattling under his weight.  Samantha hesitantly moved after him, gripping the loose railing as the  other two men jumped on.

They ran down the stairs, and Samantha kept her eyes on her brother's  back rather than the narrow street below. No one seemed to be following  them, thank goodness, and they made it to solid ground with only a few  bizarre looks their way.

"Inside," James said, pushing her to a white van that was humming in the  back parking lot as it sat with the engine running. Samantha didn't  question her brother, and she stepped inside of the vehicle without a  backwards glance.       

   





Until the door snapped shut behind her, and she was alone, staring at a pair of blue eyes.

"Don't worry," they narrowed in laughter, and a short man turned on the overhead light. "I'm not my brother  –  I won't hurt you."





Chapter 3

Samantha jumped as the van started to move underneath her, and she  scrambled to take a seat. The man across from her was watching with  narrowed eyes and a smug smile, and for a moment she worried if she'd  simply just jumped out of the frying pan and into the fire.

Well, being passive hadn't worked out with Abel. Maybe his brother would  appreciate a more aggressive tone. Besides, he didn't seem nearly as  intimidating as the broad biker boss. This man was more the opposite  –   short and plump, with the buttons on his sweater vest bulging against  his stomach. Samantha swallowed the hard lump in her throat and spoke  up.

"You're Abel's brother?" she asked lightly.

"Yes," the man said, sitting up straight as he puffed out his chest.  "Cain." Samantha wasn't sure what to say to that, but luckily the man  apparently felt like talking. "I'm his little brother," he explained.  "Always been looking up to his enormous shadow. Suffocating, is what it  is. But now, my dear, you've finally given me something to make him  stumble."

Samantha frowned. "Me?"

"Oh, yes," he said, nodding happily as he crossed his legs. His shined  leather shoes caught the light, and she found herself straightening the  pajamas that she's slept in last night. "I've known about you for a  while, Samantha Smith  –  and not just from James. Abel hasn't shut up  about you ever since he caught sight of your picture in your brother's  wallet."

"Sight of me?" Samantha repeated. "No, he said that James-"

"That James gave you up, and yes, he did," he sighed, bored. "But he  only thought to trade you because of Abel's fascination. And it is only  because of that obsession that he thought to bring you to me."

"I don't understand." Samantha brought a hand up to her forehead and  closed her eyes. In the past two days she'd been borderline kidnapped,  forced into marriage, and then saved only to be kidnapped again. "Are  you rescuing me?"

"Your brother thinks I am," Cain shrugged. "And I am taking you away from him. Tell me, has he fucked you yet?"

Samantha gulped, and with a confidence that she didn't have, she replied, "He married me."

That made Cain pause. Then, as if a new wind had blown into his sails,  he smiled, and said, "Well then. I suppose we'll have to make him a  cuckold-"

The van suddenly swerved, and both Samantha and Cain grabbed onto the sides of the van to keep from falling to the ground.

"Peter!" Cain shouted, banging his fist on the back of the driver's seat. "You idiot!"

"Sorry, sir!" a nasally voice answered. The van roared as it picked up  speed, and the man shouted, "It's your brother! His gang!"

"What?" Cain hissed, and he pulled himself up from his seat to peek past  the seats and through the windshield. "Shit," he cursed.

"Sir, what should I-"

"Drive," Cain spit. "Get us out of here!"

Samantha held on for dear life as the van scraped the road in a sharp  turn and barreled down the road. She could hear other motors, now.  Louder and faster, whizzing by with ease.

"No!" Cain shouted. "Don't let them-!"

With a crunch, the van bounced backwards before coming to a jerky stop.  It'd obviously rammed into something, and Samantha looked up, wondering  if anyone had been hurt.

If James had been hit.

Grabbing the door handle, she yanked the door open with a bang and  shakily jumped out of the van. The ground was gravel, and she realized,  belatedly, that they weren't in the city anymore. They'd taken a turn  somewhere, and ended up near the reserve on the edge of town.

"Samantha!"

She looked up, squinting against the harsh sunlight, hoping to see a  skinny boy who shared her eyes. Her heart skipped when, instead, it was a  tall man with long black hair and a blue stare calling out to her,  running to her side.

"A-Abel," she said, though she barely had time to get his name out  before he was sweeping her up in a hug, his hands threading through her  hair as he cradled her head.

"I saw the window," he said softly, so only she could hear. "I thought … " he shook his head. "But you're stronger than that."       

   





"You thought I'd jumped?" she said slowly, her confused frown turning  into one of anger. "Because, what?" she said hotly, pushing him away.  "Because you locked me in your penthouse? Or forced me to sign that  marriage license?"

"Ah," Cain said, climbing out of the van with a hand to his bleeding head. "I had wondered what you'd meant by ‘married' you."

"Andrew!" Abel scowled. "I should've known it was you!"

"Andrew?" Samantha asked, glancing at the shorter man.

"It's Cain," he demanded, his hands balling up into fists. "I'm the cursed-"

"Oh, not this shit again," Abel rolled his eyes. "Look, Sam, I'm sorry about whatever this asshole has done to you, but-"

"What I've done? Oh no, brother," Cain grinned. "You've done so much that she actually asked if I was her rescuer!"

"And just what are you doing with her, Andrew?" Abel sighed, turning to his brother.

"She's mine," he huffed, his face red. "I got her, fair and square, from her brother-"

"James doesn't own her anymore," Abel seethed. "And when I catch that little-"

"Enough!"

The two brothers turned to look at Samantha, both wearing the same stunned look on their blue-eyed faces.

"No one owns me," she glared, pointing a finger at the two of them. Abel  glanced at his brother, then took a step towards her, shrugging.

"My dear, if you remember-"

"You want my brother?" she said, exasperated. "Fine. Take him. But we  both know that you don't have men tailing him, or he wouldn't have been  able to break me out of your place. Which means that you're happy with  me," she said, steeling herself. It was go big or go home at this point,  and she'd have to test just where the line was with this guy if she  wanted to get out of it. "Your brother told me," she said sternly.  "You're in love with me."

Abel's blue eyes grew wider, and he turned a harsh look on Cain. "Andrew," he growled.

"And if you want me and you to work at all? Then you'll take me home,"  she said, just barely keeping her voice even. "Right now."

Abel couldn't order his men to bring a car around fast enough.



He walked her up to her apartment, something she was just barely able to  stand. It wasn't that she thought he'd go back on his word and take her  back to the penthouse instead (though, that was a lingering threat),  but more how he couldn't shut his mouth.

"It wasn't real, I promise," he said again for the fiftieth time. "The application was just to, well, convince you, I suppose."

"Make me feel trapped," Samantha said tiredly as she trudged up the stairs.

"Well, yes," Abel nodded. "I didn't plan to physically trap you, though. I'd planned to take you out when I got home tonight-"

"And keep me under your thumb until I got fired and had nowhere else to go anyway," she finished for him.

"No," Abel said, and his simpering tone finally changed into something with more backbone. "I called in for you."

That made her pause. She glanced over her shoulder at him. "You did?"

"Yes," he said proudly. "I wasn't about to completely overthrow your  life. I just wanted to make it a part of mine," he added feebly.