Rise (Dark and Dangerous Book 2) Page 12

  I thought I would faint from the sensation, the joy of having him here again. Knew that he would catch me if I did.

  That he would always catch me.

  But that thought and all others scattered to the wind when he skimmed his fingers down my body and settled his hand between my thighs. That touch alone was enough to send me racing toward orgasm, and I only went higher when he teased his thumb down my slit and then eased two fingers inside me.

  “Ohhh,” I moaned, past the point of reasoned speech.

  I could only feel, and so I did. Held Aras as he worked his fingers in and out of me, setting a pace that left me breathless, on edge for more.

  “Aras…” I choked out, the word dying in my throat when he pushed my clit with his thumb.

  The pleasure rushed over me in a wave, but he held me as I rode the wave to completion.

  When my senses finally returned, he was still there, watching me, his eyes shining with that unnamed emotion.

  Overcome with instinct, I stretched up and kissed him, put all the feeling I wouldn’t dare say in words in that kiss.

  He kissed me back, using his broad body to stretch me out on the bed.

  And when he entered me, I knew that no matter what, I would love this man forever.

  Lake

  “Vlad’s dead,” I said a long time later.

  I wasn’t sure how I knew, but I knew.

  Maybe it was in the way he had kissed me, the way he had touched me. With a freedom, a lightness that hadn’t been there before.

  “Yes,” Aras said.

  He held me tightly, his arms sheltering me against the world, something he had proven once before and continued to prove now.

  I’d told him not to—some part of me regretted that he’d had to—but Aras had slain my personal dragon.

  Rescued me.

  I had lost my heart in the process, but it seemed a small price to pay, especially since it belonged to him, the best man I had ever known.

  But as elated as I was for him, I sensed there was more to the story.

  “But it’s still not over,” I said.

  I looked up at him, saw that his gaze was distant before he looked at me.

  “No. Not yet,” he said.

  I ignored the pull in my gut, the dread that had only momentarily receded.

  “You can ask, Lake. You can ask me anything.”

  “Who are you going after?”

  “Yuri. My boss.”

  I frowned, surprised. “Why?”

  I knew Aras was good at what he did, for better or worse. But he didn’t strike me as particularly ambitious, at least not when it came to the day-to-day. For him to go after his boss was something of note.

  His expression was momentarily pained, but then it cleared, that determination, that unwavering steadiness clear in his eyes.

  “He ordered it. Ordered Vlad to kill my parents. Me,” Aras whispered.

  “Do you know why?” I responded, my own voice low.

  “My mother knew him. Apparently she was his girlfriend.”

  “Your boss is your father.”

  Aras nodded.

  “Does he know who you are?”

  “He has no clue.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because if he did, I’d be dead. Just like he wanted me to be all those years ago,” Aras said.

  There was an anger in his voice, a sadness, and I reached for him, stroked my thumb across the back of his hand before I interlaced our fingers.

  “So you just happened to end up working for him.”

  “Yeah. Happenstance. Can you believe that?”

  “Given everything that happened to me, I can believe it.”

  “You think I should let it go.”

  “Aras, you’re justified in your anger. And I’ve never said you should let it go. I just don’t want to see you hurt, or worse. Didn’t want to see it for Vlad, still don’t for this Yuri person.”

  I went quiet, watching his face to see how he reacted.

  He didn’t.

  “You’re disappointed again,” he eventually said.

  “No. I could never be disappointed in you. I just want you to be okay.”

  Needed him to be okay, though I kept that part to myself. Going after Vlad had been dangerous, but what Aras was doing now was only that much more so.

  But I couldn’t change his mind, wouldn’t try.

  “Aras, I love—”

  He pressed a finger against my lips, shook his head.

  “No, Lake. There are things we have to talk about. But not now. After I come back,” he said.

  “If you come back,” I whispered.

  That he didn’t respond was a rip in my heart, but he hadn’t lied to me.

  It was the smallest, coldest comfort, because I knew what Aras wasn’t saying.

  This wasn’t done.

  He wouldn’t stop until it was.

  And he might not survive the process.

  I wanted to scream at him, wanted to wrap my arms around him so tightly he couldn’t leave.

  I could do neither of those things, so I did all that I could.

  Held him tighter, my face pressed against his chest, the warm, steady thud of his heartbeat against his breastbone filling my ears.

  When I spoke, my voice was muffled, but I knew he had heard me.

  “Promise you’ll come back to me.”

  He didn’t respond, and I squeezed him a little tighter. “Promise.”

  “Lake, I can’t—”

  “Promise,” I said even more firmly this time.

  Aras stared down at me, the expression in his eyes unreadable.

  “I promise,” he said.

  He had never lied to me, and I had to pin my heart on the fact that he wouldn’t now.

  I would do that, hold onto that for dear life, and hope that soon, finally, Aras would be free from this.

  What happened after was still anyone’s guess, but I would deal with that when he came back to me.

  If he came back to me.

  Twenty-Two

  Aras

  The last day and a half had been a whirlwind, one that wasn’t over yet.

  Still, even after all that had happened with Vlad and the cross-country flight I had just taken, I was alert, sharp, every part of my mind and body focused on what lay ahead.

  I had my reasons, was doing this because I had no other choice.

  But I had promised Lake I would be back. And I would never lie to her.

  The only way I knew to keep that streak alive was to be at my absolute best, and so I was.

  I pulled to a stop in front of a small house, one that wasn’t even a full block away from the large university that was the hub of this town.

  It was a nice house, one I would expect for a professor or some kind of administrator, not a student, though the person I was going to see was anything but your average college senior.

  I had scoped out the place, seen that there were no guards. The only thing between me and inside was an easily disabled home security system. One that I took care of in less than a minute.

  I also disabled the fancy sports car parked in the driveway.

  It would be drivable in a half hour, but I’d be long gone by then.

  I entered and looked over the house, taking in the sparse furniture and generally disheveled state of the place. It definitely belonged to a young man, but I also didn’t miss the little feminine touches throughout.

  He wasn’t alone, but that wouldn’t be a problem unless he made it one.

  I went to the master bedroom and spotted the young couple sleeping there. The woman was younger than the man, maybe twenty—wholesomely pretty face, curvy body wrapped in dark brown skin.

  Not a threat, but I kept her in my sight as I focused on the man who lay next to her.

  Boy, really. He was right at the threshold of becoming a man, and unfortunately for him, I was about to accelerate that event.

  I saw the moment he became aware tha
t something was amiss, stared at him until he finally noticed me.

  He went to move, but I shook my head quickly, showed him the gun that I hadn’t yet aimed.

  Seemingly on instinct, he tilted his body, putting himself between me and the girl.

  I let the gun settle back in the holster, then nodded toward his clothes.

  He was confused, and angry, something that was very clear, but he looked at the girl again, then dressed.

  He walked toward me slowly, never once letting her out of his sight.

  I nodded toward the living room and he froze, considering what to do.

  I let him pull the bedroom door closed, and he warily walked backward, making sure I stayed in his vision.

  We reached the living room, and he glared at me, his arrogance, his anger, on full display.

  “You have no idea how big a mistake you just made,” he said.

  His accent was barely there, probably only noticeable because of how angry he was.

  “Whether I made a mistake is yet to be determined. But you don’t want to waste time explaining to me that I have. You want to listen.”

  He glared at me, but to his credit, he shut up.

  “In three hours, word is going to start leaking out that your father is dead. About a minute after that, people are going to start vying for his position. And the easiest way to achieve that is going to be to kill you.”

  “What the fuck are you talking about?” the kid said.

  “I’m giving you an opportunity to get ahead of the storm that’s coming. Consolidate power before somebody else has the chance to. And if you don’t…the next person who shows up here probably won’t be as polite as me.”

  His gaze drifted toward the bedroom door, but he quickly recovered and set his expression.

  That was what I had expected to see, the bravado that can only come from being son of the boss.

  “You’re full of shit. My father’s not dead,” he said.

  “Not yet. I wanted him to talk to you first,” I replied.

  I dug in the cell phone out of my pocket, dialed the only number that had been saved in it, and then handed the phone to the kid.

  “Ivan…”

  I heard Yuri’s voice, then studied the kid as Yuri talked to him.

  There was no way for him to deny what was happening now, though I could see he wanted to.

  “Okay,” the boy whispered once Yuri was done, his bravado gone, a grim determination coming over him.

  I hadn’t ever seen someone change in a moment as I did him, and the irony wasn’t lost on me.

  A night like this was what had set me on my path. I was doing the same to this kid. Fucked up, but some part of me hoped things would turn out better for him. Suspected they would.

  He handed me the phone back. “What makes you think I won’t kill you?”

  A bold question given the circumstances, but I wasn’t surprised. This kid was young, clearly untested, but he had a strength about him that shone through.

  “You may yet. But you know you have other matters to attend to now, as I’m sure Yuri explained to you. I think you’re going to have your hands full for the next little while. But if the time comes for us to revisit this topic, we can.”

  The kid looked at me like I was insane, then a steely look settled over him.

  “If you’ll excuse me, I have a plane to catch,” the kid said.

  I nodded curtly and then left.

  One more stop, and this would all be done.

  Aras

  “I should have known you were behind this,” Yuri said.

  Some of his voice was lost on the wind. This rail yard hadn’t been built for secret meetings, but I heard what he said anyway.

  “Why?” I asked.

  Yuri stood barefoot, wearing a suit jacket but no shirt, and tailored slacks. It had been easy to find him, especially since I knew so much about him. Taking him had been far easier than I expected, though his seven guards had put up an effort. One that ultimately failed.

  Still, I was on edge.

  Yuri was dangerous on a good day, and now that he was cornered, he was only that much more.

  “You’re so diligent. So quiet. Everybody always warned me to watch out for Ezekiel. But I knew it was you.”

  “Why didn’t you do anything about it?”

  “I overlooked things because you were so good at what you do. But in the last few months, something changed. I’d just decided to take you out. You struck first.”

  “Lucky me,” I said.

  “Smart you,” he replied, sounding resigned, though I didn’t believe it for a moment.

  I could see the question in his face, and while I knew I should get this over with, curiosity got the better of me.

  “You have a question.”

  “Yes. Why didn’t you kill my son?”

  “He doesn’t deserve to die for your sins, Yuri. Someday he’ll have plenty of his own to account for, but he’s done nothing to me. I won’t kill him just for having the misfortune of being related to you.”

  “Aras, how fucking noble. But you know if he’s not around, you can have the organization,” Yuri said.

  “Yuri, if I had wanted the organization I would have taken it by now. I haven’t, and I don’t.”

  “Then what the fuck is this?” he asked, incredulous.

  “This is personal.”

  “Personal. Between me and you?” Yuri said.

  “Yeah. You really don’t recognize me, do you?” I said.

  “I guess not,” he responded, staring at me, searching for something that he didn’t find.

  Which was understandable. I didn’t look like him, had searched for similarities myself. I’d seen some of myself in his son, a faint resemblance that I would have missed if I hadn’t been looking, but none with Yuri.

  “Vlad told me you hired him to kill my mother. And me.”

  He looked at me for a moment then narrowed his eyes.

  “That son of a whore lied to me,” Yuri said, rage and disgust clear on his face.

  “Yeah. He didn’t finish the job,” I said.

  “I knew I should have handled that myself,” he responded.

  “You want something done right…”

  He shook his head. “You know it wasn’t personal.”

  I tilted my head, glaring at him, not sure if I should believe my ears.

  “You came into my home, killed my mother, the only father I’ve ever known. Would have let Vlad kill me or worse. And it wasn’t personal?”

  I kept all emotion out of my voice, unwilling to show him any, but my ears could hardly believe what he was saying.

  “Your mother was stubborn. She wouldn’t listen to me. It was out of my hands.”

  The surge of disgust that raced through my blood almost made me dizzy.

  I shifted, moving my weight from one foot to the other, annoyed that I had revealed anything but unable to stay still.

  “You could have just let her go. She had made another life. You could have left it at that.”

  “A leave a loose end?” he asked incredulously. “Leave that kind of leverage out there? No fucking way.”

  “You’re a heartless bastard, Yuri.”

  “No. I’m a realist. It brought me no joy to order you and your mother killed. That’s not at all what I would have wanted. But I looked at my options and picked the best course of action. How the hell do you think I’ve managed to stay where I am for so long?”

  Rage, hot and heavy, rushed through my blood but just as quickly cooled.

  “You would have made a good boss. You have self-control. Not like Ivan,” he said.

  “Your son will be fine,” I said.

  “I guess I have to hope he will,” Yuri said. He went quiet then. “What now?”

  I knelt down, pulled the knife out of the sheath in my boot.

  “May I make a request?” Yuri said.

  “Go ahead,” I said, not sure why I was feeling generous.

  “My wif
e, Ivan…they would appreciate an open casket.”

  “Okay,” I said, as I approached him knife in hand.

  “Gut stab?” he asked, eyeing the knife.

  “Yes.”

  “A horrible way to die.”

  “There are worse,” I responded.

  Then I jammed the knife in his stomach, twisted, and pulled it out.

  Yuri doubled over, dropped to his knees, his fingers grasping at the blood that was pouring out of him.

  Much the same was happening inside.

  He was bleeding to death, and I watched every moment.

  After about forty-five minutes he lay still, his skin ashen, all life gone from him.

  I stared down at him, listening as a train passed in the distance.

  Then I wrapped the knife in a burlap sack and walked away.

  Twenty-Three

  Aras

  “It’s done?” Ezekiel asked.

  “It’s done.”

  “The body?”

  “I promised him an open casket. His son knows where to pick him up.”

  “That was generous of you,” Ezekiel said.

  “Not really. Kid’s gonna have his hands full, and the easier I make it for him, the less likely he is to come after me. I already killed a father. I prefer not to kill a brother too,” I said.

  “Fair enough. Let’s go,” he said.

  We got into the SUV and Ezekiel drove off.

  “Aras,” Ezekiel said.

  “Yeah?” I asked distractedly.

  “What comes now?” he asked.

  I glanced over at him, his eyes on the road. The question had been almost without inflection, but I knew what he was asking.

  “I’m out,” I said.

  “Just like that?”

  “Just like that.”

  He shrugged, glanced at me quickly, then back at the road.

  “I shouldn’t be surprised. Your heart was never in this. And now that you’ve gotten what you needed, you’re ready to move on,” he said.

  There wasn’t anything in his voice, and the untrained ear would have missed the emotion.

  I didn’t.

  Ezekiel was the only thing like family I had had for so long, and though he would deny it, I knew the same was true for him.