"Are you okay?"
My attention jerked to Damian to see he was awake and watching me.
"I don't know what to do with the rage and the anger." I climbed from the bed. I needed air. I yanked open the balcony door and stepped outside. I was just settling in the chair when Damian joined me. He stepped to the railing, checking the scene I was sure. Even now he was watching and protecting. I studied his tattoo until he turned, leaned up against the railing and pushed his hands into the pockets of his jeans.
"Talk to me."
"He was like family. His family was an extension of ours. He had been a pallbearer at Dad's funeral, he's Cam's godfather, and if he wasn't the one to kill dad, he played a part. How do I process that?"
"I wish I could answer that. He won't get away with it. I can promise you that."
I stood, feeling too restless to sit. "Can I see your tattoo?" But I didn't wait for a response. I walked to him and traced the devil on his back. It was beautiful. "Your Mom was wrong to call you the devil. People like Guy are devils. He was my father's best friend and he threw it all away for money. I don't care why he needed it. The price he paid to get it was too fucking high. You're nothing like that." I kissed him right in the center of his back. "This tattoo shouldn't be an albatross; it should be a talisman to your strength, your character, your integrity and your beauty because you are beautiful, Damian, inside and out."
I pressed my forehead to his back, wrapped my arms around his waist. "Do you think he knew? Dad? Do you think he knew it was his friend, his brother that betrayed him? The one he had walked the beat with, the one who had his back as much as he had his? The man who stood up with him at his wedding, promised to care for his children if something should happen to him. Do you think he knew?"
Damian turned into me, his voice harsh. "Don't do that to yourself."
"I don't just want him to get caught, I want him to hurt. I want him to know we know and I want him to hurt. What kind of person does that make me?"
"Human."
A thought had fury slipping to fear. "What about Mom? She has to be told something? What if Guy makes a play for her? She won't know."
"Your mom and Mrs. Cooke were moved to Mrs. Cooke's home in Westchester."
"They were?"
"As soon as Cam learned of Guy's involvement. Kimber and Ryder are being watched, if necessary they'll be joining them."
"I've never felt this kind of blinding rage before. I've never wanted to come out of my own skin from fury. I want to hit something, hurt something." Tears filled my eyes as I looked pleadingly into his. "Please make it go away."
Without a word, he pulled me close and kissed me deeply. My hands sought him, fury turning to passion. I couldn't touch or taste him enough. I wanted him, every part all at once. My mouth moved over his shoulder, my tongue darted out to taste the salt on his skin. He tasted good, so fucking good. My hands started a journey down his chest, my mouth following. The hunger for him grew to the point that I bit him, right on the pec and hard enough that I drew blood. I froze. I had never in my life bitten a person and certainly not during sex. His hand wrapped around mine and brought it to his cock that was straining the denim. "Do that again and I'm coming on you not in you."
He carried me to the bed and lowered me to my feet before yanking the tee over my head. He dropped his jeans, hooked an arm around my waist and pulled me down onto the bed.
His hands slid down my back to my ass where he squeezed, separating my cheeks as his cock pushed between my legs and he rubbed himself in the spot I wanted him to take.
"Please."
"What do you need, baby."
"You-hard, fast … I want it to hurt in a good way."
He flipped me and pressed my chest into the mattress while holding my hips up high.
"If I'm too rough, say."
He couldn't ever be too rough.
"Thea?"
"Okay."
The tip off his cock moved between my ass cheeks to my core that was already starting to spasm. I cried out when he rammed into me, filling me so completely it hurt to accommodate him.
"Are you okay?"
"Please don't stop."
He pulled out, my body desperate to hold him inside and then he was thrusting forward again. In and out, over and over, he slammed into me until the pain and pleasure blended into one life-changing orgasm. My limbs went weak, my mind emptied, but Damian wasn't done. He pulled from me and settled on the edge of the bed.
"You fuck me now."
I crawled to him, threw my leg around his waist and straddled him, holding myself just out of reach for a second before I sank down on his cock. His mouth found my breast, sucking hard as his tongue swirled around my nipple. I didn't think I'd come again, but my muscles tensed, my body making the climb until I went off like a firecracker. His hands on my hips kept me moving as he found his release. The growl that rolled up his throat was the sexiest sound I'd ever heard.
My head dropped on his shoulder, his arms came around me. "Better?"
"Yes. I'm sorry."
"Best fucking sex of my life. You better not be sorry."
"I'm not really."
He stood, carrying me since I was still wrapped around him, and climbed under the covers. I fell asleep. My body spent, my mind overwhelmed, but the one light in the darkness that my life seemed to have been plunged into held me as tightly as I held him.
I'm leaving for New York tomorrow." Damian dropped on me at dinner the following night.
"What? New York? Why?"
"The late night phone calls you received were tracked back to Chris McKay."
I'm sure I looked confused because I sure as hell felt it. "Chris McKay?"
"It's a piece that doesn't fit. I had someone on him, but he's disappeared."
"What do you mean he's disappeared?"
"He's gone under and well enough that I can't find him. That says to me someone forced him to go under. I want to know who and why?"
"What are you thinking?"
"He was harassing you because of his daughter's case and your link to Timothy Gallagher. My guess, he was doing similarly to Timothy Gallagher, but he has clients that would not be thrilled to have someone nosing around."
"Are you saying you think he's dead? What about his grandkids?"
"They're staying with a distant relative. He hasn't been to see them in several weeks. It's more than likely that he isn't tied to Cam's investigation, but with his link to you I want to know exactly what his involvement is. I've gotten a lead on a possible direction as to who is pulling his strings."
"And you have to go?"
"Everyone else is working on other things. Besides, he harassed you. That makes it personal for me."
"How do you do that?"
He lifted his brow in question.
"Make me want to smile even when I'm feeling slightly terrified."
He brushed his thumb over my lower lip. "Terrified?"
"For you."
It was his turn to smile. "I love that you're concerned for me, but I'm good, babe. And you will be too. You're covered."
"I'm covered?" I was slightly distracted from his smile.
"Yeah."
"Mic?"
"And Razor."
It took effort to keep my jaw from hitting the table. Razor worked for Damian. "Razor?"
He was enjoying my befuddlement.
"I can't believe I didn't see that."
"One of them will stay at the cottage with you while I'm gone."
"What about work? I don't imagine Janice wants me in the bar?"
"She doesn't have a say."
"Seriously?"
He didn't answer but I didn't expect one. And then a thought turned me cold. "Are you not coming back?"
That earned me an exasperated glare. "I'll be back in three or four days. The timing sucks, but I have to go."
"So, you're not running?"
That pissed him off. "I'm going to put you over my knee."
My body went up in flames at the thought. Damian grinned. "I like that look on you."
"What look?"
He leaned over the table. "Hot."
"Well, you're in luck since that's a condition I feel around you all the time."
"I know."
"You're not immune."
"Fucking hooked too."
"Good answer." I looked down and then up at him through my lashes. "Maybe we should get our desserts to go."
Damian's voice carried through the restaurant. "Check."
I was thankful for work, both my graphic design responsibilities and the late hours at the bar, because it kept me busy and being busy helped distract me because I missed Damian. And I worried for him and the others and the shit storm they were wading into at home. Chris McKay had been the one calling me. He had been distraught and angry after his daughter's murderer had been set free, I understood. But had he intended to do more than harassing phone calls? That thought caused a chill to move through me. And who was behind him disappearing? I hoped he was alive. He'd acted carelessly and emotionally, but he didn't deserve to lose his life for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I was working the area by the pool tables when I noticed a girl that was being backed into a corner. It was the expression on her face that had me walking over.
"Can I get you something?" The girl's fearful eyes latched onto me.