Five men. Five of his father's best hit men followed us from the hospital, yet their presence did nothing to calm my nerves. If Marco was alive -if he was here- those five poor men represented no obstacle to him. And quite honestly, nothing did. I knew what he was here for. He wanted his fucking revenge and this time, something told me that he was also up to anything to get what he wanted. Including killing a dozen of innocent souls to get to me. They were nothing but collateral damage to him and I already knew how Marco felt about collateral damage. At first, that was all I was to him too -a pawn for his vendetta.
One of Gabriel's hands landed on one of my own, his gentle squeeze making me stop pulling at the hem of my Tee. He was watching me, I knew he was -I could feel his hazels scorch my skin- but I could not look back at him. My eyes would've told him exactly how I felt -little, insecure, helpless- and I couldn't let that happen. He needed to think I was fine. He needed to think that I was not going to break under pressure again.
So instead of looking up into his amazing hazels that I knew would've given me strength while I took his, I let my eyes drift to the front seats and noticed Mrs Shaffer's restless hands and Mathew's impacient tap on the steering wheel. They were nervous too. They both knew what Marco was here for and I couldn't help but wonder if they didn't think it was best for me to just be handed over to him. God knows that that's what I thought.
"You're gonna be fine." His words made me squeeze my eyes shut, his hold of my hand intensifing for the briefest of moments. "You're not alone this time, Julia. You're gonna be fine." My brain was screaming at me to remind him that I had not been alone the last time either. That Marco had gotten to me by stepping over Ginger -by breaking his protege into a million small pieces. But I didn't. I just kept my mouth shut and forced my eyes to continue to stare at my feet, my brain busying itself with registering every small, little detail of my Valentino flats.
The car suddenly slowed down, my eyes flying up and noticing that we'd arrived at our destination. The black Mercedes in front of us had also stopped, one of Mr Shaffer's men stepping out of the car and saying something to one of the men at the gate. The gates opened, the car in front of us immediately going through them, Mathew also starting the engine of our SUV and following suit. I instictively turned around to see if the Mercedes behind us was still there and breathed out a small sigh of relief the moment I caught sight of it. Somebody getting hurt for me was the last damn thing I needed at the moment.
My wrist got seized in a vice like grip and before I even got the chance to fully understand what was happening, I found myself being dragged out of the car and into the villa. The moment my feet appeared not to move at the speed my murderer demanded, I was swept up into his strong arms, my nose going straight to the crook of his neck, inhaling his relaxing, masculine scent.
Only letting go of me the moment his bedroom's door closed behind us, Gabriel went straight to the chest of drawers on the far wall of the room, his hands removing one of the drawers completely and then searching the hollow space left behind. I could only watch him make quick work of detaching a black object from the inside of his furniture, one of his hands then weighing the damn thing before finally presenting it to me.
"This is a Colt 1911-A1 model, Julia." My mouth opened slightly the moment he placed the gun into one of my hands, the cold metal making me recoil. "Hold it, dea. Get used to it. This might save your life one day." Swallowing hard and trying not to remember of how it felt like to have one pressed to your back, I properly curled my fingers around the pistol. "Good. There are several of these hidden around the house, but I want you to keep this one with you all the time, ok?" I slowly nodded my head while looking up into the hazels of the man I loved. There was fear there mingling with the determination written all over his face. He feared he was gonna lose me again -I feared that too.
"Your mother..." I whispered the moment I could finally take my eyes off him, my brain functions coming back to life. "You should..." Unexpectadly pressing hs lips to mine, Gabriel's tongue dived into my mouth, my murderer going straight for the kill.
"She's fine. She has Mathew and my father's men. This is hunting season, dea and you were a sitting duck. I needed to bring you to safety." His muscular arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me into him for another passionate kiss before I found myself spun around in his embrace, his hands guiding mine and pointing the Colt at one of the small lamps placed onto the nightstand. "This, dea, is a loaded gun, so unless you really mean to fire it, keep your finger off the trigger, ok?" Positioning my hands and fingers to his liking, Gabriel then nodded his head at the lamp. "Now, you'll wanna load the gun. For that you'll need to pull back the slide until you hear a small, clicking sound." Proving his point by forcing one of my hands to pull back the slide until a soft clicking sound came from the gun indeed, my murderer went on. "Now take a deep breath and hold it. Relax!" Doing exactly as told, I moved my finger to the trigger and pulled it. The recoil of the gun made my shoulder fly into Gabe's chest, the lamp shattering to pieces, my ears slightly ringing from the noise of the shot.
I felt his smile next to my ear, his teeth then gently grazing my skin and making my insides clench with lust. My hands let go of the gun, my entire body rotating into his embrace, my hands going to his hair and pulling him down to my mouth. Placing both his hands onto my ass, Gabriel picked me up, forcing my legs to wrap around his narrow hips until my core met his groin. I could feel his raging erection even through the fabric of both my jeans and his suit pants, my tongue plunging into his mouth desperately, my hands crazily roaming over his body and pulling his shirt out of his pants. Pulling back ever so slightly, I took a moment to stare at his navy blue grenadine tie, considering the possibility of asking him to keep it on while he fucked my brains out.
The door bursted open a moment later, my eyes widening in shock, my murderer's fingers digging into my flesh a little before letting me go and turning to look at his wingman who hadn't budged from the doorway.
"What?" He barked at the man staring at us in dibelief and I cringed. "Is there something I need to know, or see right now? Has Marco made another appearence? Has the world ended? What is it that couldn't have waited another hour, Mathew?" I could practically see the cogs spinning in his mind while my murderer's wingman tried to come up with an answer.
"We heard a shot coming from here. I came to make sure everything was fine." Anger laced his words, Mathew's eyes still scanning the room.
"I was teaching Julia to fire a gun. I'll use a silencer next time." Gabriel simply barked the words at his friend, Mathew's unbothered expression as he continued to watch us incredulously making me bite back a laugh. Unfortunatelly for him, my murderer didn't find it as funny as I did. "Mathew!" Raising his hands in exasperation, Gabriel slowly shook his head the moment no answer came from his wingman. "Get the hell out, man!" A huge grin split Mathew's face in two this time.
"For fuck's sake, Shaffer! You should get laid before you burst a vein." And this time, I really couldn't help the laugh that escaped me. Mathew made his way out of the room backwards, Gabriel practically slamming the door in his face before turning on his heels and coming at me like a starving man.
One of his hands dived into my hair, pulling my head back and exposing the skin of my neck to his lips, which make no mistake, attacked it immediately. My back hit the wall before I even realised we were moving, a deep moan leaving my chest.
"Gentle or hard, dea?" My mouth opened, but then closed, my teeth biting into my lower lip the moment his thumb started to tease one of my nipples through the fabric of my clothes. "Gentle or hard, Julia?" His fingers piched on my nipple, instigating a loud cry from me, his hazels now focused on my blues and demanding my attention.
"Hard." The word was nothing but a feeble whisper, but I had no doubt that he'd heard me. Gabriel's eyes lit up with a lust so intense that it almost turned me into ash. My hands got lifted above my head, hitting the wall behind me, my wrists seized in his strong grip. One of his legs went between both of mine, spreading them open before raising his knee to my core. My mouth went suddenly dry, my fingers violently squeezing his hands until I could feel my nails breaching his skin.
A pained hiss escaped him before I found myself lifted off the ground, my hands now free of his hold, my legs securely wrapped around him. The hand he kept at the small of my back did nothing to ease the shock I felt the moment my back hit another wall, my head flying back on a groan.
Briefly placing me onto my feet, so that he could take off my pants appeared to be the hardest thing Gabriel's ever done, his hungry eyes trailing scorching paths down my breasts and to my abdomen. His fingers deftly unbuttoned my jeans, the heavy, large fabric poolling to my feet a moment later. I knew what was next even before he'd moved a muscle. Harshly pulling me back into him, my panties disintegrated under his touch, his mouth savagely attacking mine and distracting me from his struggle to unbutton his own pants.
I was not completely ready for him the moment his first slam into me made my head fly back on a curse, my sex struggling to adjust to the intrusion. A sharp pain coursed through me next, as his hips pulled back, his erection slipping out of me almost entirely. He was huge and I was fucking small and that was a bit of a problem even without the position making the penetration deeper, so maybe that was why I felt like he was impaling me at the moment.
My hands went to his hair, pulling hard as Gabriel drove back into me, harder this time, the tip of his erection hitting the very end of me, his thickness filling me up completely. An intense pleasure replaced the pain the moment my murderer slipped out again, his hips performing a mind numbing rotation on his way back in, his fingers digging into my thighs.
I couldn't tell exactly at what point the rithm formed, but it did, his hips pulling back and leaving me void of him just to slam back in hard on a rotation of his hips. My mind had gone blank at some point, my senses filled with him, his intoxicating scent drifiting to my nose, his taste lingering in my mouth. Looking down at him still wearing his three piece suit, his tie hanging loosely around his neck almost took me over the edge, my core contracting violently around him. There was something deliciously savage about the way our bodies had gotten what they needed, our brains not even bothering with such trivial things as getting rid of our clothes first.
"Now, dea." His hot breath against my ear sent an electrical wave down my spine, my muscles contracting once more, sparks igniting deep in my belly. The orgasm that took over my entire being this time was nothing like the others I'd experienced in the past -not even with him- my breath hitching the moment pleasure made my toes curl. My fingers went to the lapels of his suit jacket, holding on for dear life as we both stood completely still except for the violent, involuntary shakes of my body.
"I think I found my favourite position." I finally mumbled on a sigh the moment my brain started working again. My murderer smiled ever so slightly before his arms tightened their hold of me, Gabriel swiftly turning the both of us in the direction of the bed, his body stuck to mine the whole time. It wasn't before he gently lowered me onto the mattress that I realised he was still hard inside of me, my murderer not having got his release.
"You had your way. It's my turn now and I want it nice and gentle." His loving smile and gentle hazels made me love him even more, my heart filling with wormth and light and Gabriel. Slowly, carefully, almost reverently pulling out of me, the love of my life carelessly removed his clothes, my own hands jumping into action and getting rid of the Tee I still had on and the white bra. And then... Then he made love to me.
$$$
"I should go talk to my father." Slowly opening my eyes, I started to unconsciously look for his hazels. I wanted the love and warmth I knew I would find in them focused on me and me only. "He may not say it, but I know he's worried about Marco's presence too. We need to do something about the security detail on these grounds -maybe even bring more of my boys from San Diego." His words were barely audible, almost as if he was talking to himself, and as much as I hated distracting him from his plans, I needed an answer to a question I could no longer push to the back of my mind.
"You don't really seem surprised he's alive." The moment he failed to react to my words, I knew that he'd been expecting us to have this conversation. "How? I was there when you shot him." Even though I was half dead myself at that time and I was not really sure what had happened. He could've shot a fucking fly for all I knew.
"It must've been a flesh wound, I don't know. You needed to be taken to a hospital, dea, I didn't have the time to make sure he was dead." I slowly nodded, the memory of bleeding to death onto one of Marco's carpets and then of Gabriel carrying my lifeless body to his car and to the hospital, making me break out into a cold sweat. "Don't go there, dea. I can't focus on what I have to do knowing you went to that dark place again." Understanding not the meaning in his words, but the one behind them, I closed my eyes in an attempt to clear my head. Gabriel needed to focus on finding and destroying the man who'd almost killed me and he could only do that by not letting the rage get the better of him -the rage I knew I awakened each time I reminded him of what Marco had done to me. Looking up at the man carefully watching me, I did my best to offer him a smile. I couldn't afford him knowing what my true feelings were. I couldn't afford him get angry and rush into doing something reckless and dangerous.
"I'm not going anywhere, except maybe to have a shower. You, on the other hand, should really go see your father." Quickly pecking his lips, I stood up from the bed, heading for the bathroom, perfectly aware of his hazels staring at my naked ass.
The scalding water pouring over my skin once I entered the shower made me close my eyes in utter bliss, the memories of my close to death experience and Marco momentarily erasing from my mind.
Finding Gabriel gone the moment I stepped out of the bathroom was not such a big surprise, but finding my summer dress neatly folded on the bed with a small, white note on top of it was. Taking measured steps, careful not to drop the towel I held stuck to my wet body, I made sure to properly dry my hands before picking up the note. It was from my murderer, of course, and it said, I quote: Why don't you go find Angie? Well, why would have I? My mind went in a turmoil while I tried to think of a reason good enough to go find the woman. That was until I realised that I didn't need a reason to find her, anyway. If the fucking love of my life told me to find Angie, then I was going to find Angie.
Putting on the summer dress placed just in front of me, I ran a hand through my hair while also looking for my flats. The lack of any makeup on my face had become quite a custom by now, so I didn't even bother wasting any of my time on it.
I found Angie downstairs talking to a man I'd never seen before, his long locks of blond hair and sense of fashion immediately making me understand that he was not part of the security team. Mathew's fiance lightly laughed at something before her eyes landed on me, her happiness turning into worry. Dismissively waving the blue folder she held in the direction of the blond man, she then turned around and approached me, her steps hesitant.
"Julia! What brings you here?" Well, that was pretty much what I wanted to find out at that particular moment as well. I couldn't help but feel like I'd interrupted something.
"Um, Gabriel sent me looking for you actually. He didn't really give me a reason." Angie's eyes widened slightly, her skin paling while her hands started to fumble with the blue folder still in her hands. "I can go if you're busy. I don't mind it." Her answer failed to come and I'd already turned to leave the moment one of her small hands gripped one of mine. When I looked at her again, a mischivous spark of comprehension had lit up her pale blue eyes.
"I am actually. Busy I mean. And Gabriel must have known that since he sent you here. I could really use some help. Do you mind?" Pointing her chin at the cream colored sofa in the living room, the woman patiently waited for me to make my way there, her kind smile never wavering. Sitting onto the indicated sofa, I took a moment to look at Gabriel's French protege.
Angie was wearing a beautiful Elie Saab white lace, sleeveless cocktail dress and a matching pair of Jimmy Choo pumps, her dark waves gathered up in a messy chignon. Her skinny frame and perfect makeup were the final, perfect touches to make her look just like one of those models waiting in line for their five minutes on the catwalk. Mathew was a smart man. He'd found himself the perfect wife material and made sure he also got to keep it the moment he asked her to marry him. "Now, you probably don't know about this, but Mrs Shaffer was planning to throw a party a few weeks from now. That was before she found out about Marco anyway. As soon as you got home she intended to cancel it, but Gabriel wouldn't let her, asking me to organize it instead. I said yes, of course, but it's so much to do in so little time. Would you mind looking over these samples of cakes and menus while I go talk to the band and the florist? Just pick whichever you like and let me know, will you?" Abruptly standing up, the woman turned to leave, but not before collecting her blue folder from the small coffee table in front of us, her fingers already typing something on her phone. "Oh, the theme of the party is classy vintage. As a refference for the cake, of course." She was gone before I got the chance to say anything else.
So I found myself alone, in Mr and Mrs Shaffer's living room, staring at samples of cakes and complicated, sophisticated menus. Just the perfect way to spend my evening after finding out that I was hunted down by a vindictive, psychotic killer. Apparently, life just kept getting better.