The Bonds We Break by Becca Steele

ELEVEN

“Mr. Pope is out of town until the weekend.”

Thanks to Z’s connections and his all-access black card, we’d made it into the inner sanctum of Creed’s private offices and were now standing in front of a large desk where a gorgeous woman with wavy blue hair sat, eyeing us.

“Natalie, is it?” I leaned over the desk, giving her a wide grin. She smiled and blushed but gave a small eye roll.

“You’re Cassius Drummond.”

“I am. How did you know?”

“Your reputation precedes you,” she said dryly, and I wasn’t sure if that was a compliment or not, but I decided to take it as one.

“Did you hear that, Cade?” I elbowed him in the side. “I’m infamous.” Caiden rudely ignored me, speaking to Natalie instead.

“Can you set up a meeting when he’s back?”

I noticed Zayde was pointedly ignoring Natalie, and her gaze kept darting to him. I made a note to get the details out of him later and returned my attention to Natalie, who was now tapping at her computer.

“The earliest I can fit you in is next Wednesday at two. Does that work?”

Zayde made some kind of disgruntled sound. “Forget it, I’ll set it up.” He pulled his phone from his pocket and spun on his heel, heading over to the windows.

“Do you know Austin De Witt?” I figured we might as well get some information from her while we were here.

She paused in her typing to glance up at me. “Of course. Why, what do you want to know?”

Has he had any meetings with any suspicious-looking Belarusian guys with part of a finger missing?

“What do you think of him?”

Her eyes narrowed. “He’s a trusted colleague of Mr. Pope.”

Right.

“Cass.” Caiden shook his head at me, and I dropped it. Zayde took that moment to come back over, tilting his head to indicate the exit.

“Sorted it.” He began to walk away without a backwards glance. Guess we were done here. I smiled at Natalie again.

“Thanks for all your help, beautiful.”

She returned my smile, this time giving me her full attention. I watched in satisfaction as her pupils dilated. “If you need any more help with anything, here’s my number.” Sliding a business card across the desk to me, she gave me a look that let me know exactly the kind of help she was thinking of, as if it wasn’t already obvious. I pocketed the card with a grin and followed the others into the lift.

As soon as the doors closed behind us, I turned to Zayde. “What’s the story with the sexy secretary?”

He rolled his eyes. “No story. We had a one-night thing, she wanted a repeat, I didn’t. She took it personally.”

I stared at him with new respect. “Wow. If she wanted a repeat with you that badly, then your dick must’ve been memorable. Wanna threesome? I need to see these skills in action.”

“Fuck off.”

“Your loss.”

The corners of his mouth lifted in amusement, and he leaned against the wall of the lift, folding his arms across his chest. “Enough of that. Creed’s meeting us Saturday night.”

“What are we doing about Austin?” I glanced between them both, and Caiden shrugged.

“You don’t want to do anything about him ’til you’ve spoken to Jessa, yeah?” Zayde waited until I nodded, then continued. “Good. We’re meeting Creed at Sanctuary.”

* * *

“Aren’t you a sight for sore eyes?” I pulled Winter into a hug, spinning her around so her glossy hair flew around her, and she laughed.

“I take it you like the new hair?”

Putting her down, I ran my fingers through the strands. Still long and dark, but now her hair was threaded through with subtle lighter tones. Yeah, I noticed hair. “Gorgeous as ever, babe.” I took in her smile, glad to see it before the inevitable seriousness of the situation hit everyone. That was my job, and I was a master. Lightening the moments, because fuck knows we needed it, especially the past year.

She immediately took in the atmosphere surrounding us, though, perceptive as ever, and her face fell. “What’s wrong?”

Cade came up behind her, pulling her back against him, and ducked down to speak into her ear. She bit her lip and nodded, her gaze darting to Zayde, then to me. “Do you want to speak to her on your own first?”

I guess I’d been designated as the official go-between for Jessa, not that I minded. “Yeah, I’ll speak to her. Where is she?”

“Upstairs, I think. She went to lie down when we got back from the spa.”

“I’ll fill the others in,” Cade told me, and I nodded, trusting him to get everything sorted. No doubt he had a plan in place already. While everyone headed into the lounge, I made my way upstairs. Jessa’s door was open a crack, so I pushed it all the way open and entered.

My eyes went straight to the bed, and my mouth went dry. Jessa was lying on her stomach, reading, in a loose emerald green top and tiny shorts that clung to the curve of her ass, her legs kicked up and her dark hair spilling over her back.

My breath caught in my throat. So fucking beautiful.

Nothing had happened between us since the night at the club, and neither of us had expected it to since it was just one night of fucking, but my dick wanted her again. Now.

Stalking over to her, I pulled the Kindle from her hands, ignoring her startled squeak, and yanked her onto her back, throwing my body over the top of hers and bracketing her with my elbows on either side of her head. “Hi.”

Eyes wide, she stared at me uncertainly, and instead of allowing her time to think, I lowered my mouth to hers.

Fuuuck. Kissing her was so addictive. She opened up to me instantly, her arms winding around my neck, her legs shifting so I could slide between them. My tongue licked into her mouth, and my rapidly hardening cock ground against her softness. A tiny moan fell from her lips, and I kissed her harder before I realised that instead of kissing me back, she was now pushing me away.

“Wait.” Her lips were shiny and swollen from our kisses, and I wanted to kiss her again. Okay, more than kiss. I wanted to fuck her so badly that I couldn’t think straight. “No.”

No.

I moved off her immediately, falling to the bed next to her, scrubbing my hand over my face. “Shit, sorry, Jessa. I didn’t plan to do that.”

She moved onto her side to face me. “It’s nice to know you find me irresistible.” There was a teasing smile on her lips, but her eyes were shuttered, and I couldn’t read her. “I don’t think we should…” Her voice trailed off, and she chewed at her lip. “It complicates things,” she said eventually.

“Why? We both know where we stand. Nothing complicated about it.”

A torn look came over her face, but then she shook her head, keeping her tone light and teasing. “No. Too much of a good thing, isn’t that the saying? I wouldn’t want to ruin you for your other women.”

I still couldn’t read her expression, so I went with it. I wasn’t about to push if she wasn’t into it, and even though my dick was protesting, I could easily call someone to take care of that when I was done here. My stomach churned with a weird feeling at that thought, for some reason, but I pushed it aside. Switching subjects to my original reason for being in her bedroom, I gave her a rundown of everything that had happened with Petr. “He wasn’t there, but Cade and Z found your brother’s phone number written down in his room.”

“What?” She jerked upwards so hard that I almost rolled off the bed.

“Uh.” I sat up, rubbing at the back of my head. “Yeah. We don’t know why yet. We went to Creed’s offices afterwards, but he’s out of town until the weekend. We didn’t want to say anything to your brother without speaking to you first.”

“Thanks.” Lying back down again, she blew out a heavy breath. “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know why he’d have my brother’s number. I can’t believe that Austin has anything to do with what’s been going on. He’s my brother. There has to be an explanation for this.” Her voice was so sure, and I hoped like fuck that she was right.

“Yeah. Hopefully we can get some answers at the weekend. Cade doesn’t think it’s worth doing anything else until after that. Him and Z both agreed that it probably wasn’t serious. All Littlefinger did was send that picture. He probably just wanted to scare you.” I injected as much conviction into my tone as possible, even though I wasn’t convinced.

She was silent, her brow creased in thought, her hands twisting in the bedsheets. Eventually she spoke, her voice quiet. “Maybe. I’d like some time alone now.”

When I was closing the door, I heard her quiet “thanks” behind me.

* * *

Three-fifteen. Groaning, I rubbed at my eyes. What had woken me? Better not have been those bloody foxes again. I thumped my pillow, shifting onto my stomach.

A noise sounded from outside my room, and the sound sent fucking chills down my spine.

Not a scream, but a sound so terrified that I was up and out of bed before I knew what I was doing, bursting through the door of Jessa’s bedroom and onto her bed. Pausing for a second, I tried to remember if you were supposed to wake people from nightmares or let them sleep, but then she thrashed on the bed, a pained whimper tearing from her throat, and that made my mind up for me. Shaking her shoulders, I dipped my head to her ear, urgently whispering her name. With a gasp, her eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright in bed, shaking. She was illuminated by the dim glow of the bedside lamp that had already been on, and my gaze tracked over her, taking in her wild, panicked expression and sharp, shallow breaths.

“Jessa. It’s okay. I’m here.”

A choked cry escaped her, and she flung herself at me, burrowing against my chest. I didn’t know what the fuck to do with myself, so I just held her, stroking her hair back from her face, whispering reassuring words that probably made no sense.

When she finally stopped shaking, she raised her head, twisting in my lap so she could meet my gaze. “I’m…I’m.” A deep, shuddering breath made its way through her body. “Thank you.”

I took in the way her bottom lip trembled and her wide, tear-stained gaze, still full of fear. Lifting my hand, I ran my thumbs gently across the dark circles under her eyes. “I’m not going anywhere.”

She searched my face, and I didn’t know what she was looking for, but whatever it was, the fear disappeared from her eyes. “When I said no earlier…” Her quiet voice trailed off. Swallowing hard, she bit down on her lip, her lashes sweeping down, hiding her expression from me. “I want to forget my nightmares. I want to feel something…something good. Will you help me?”

This was such a bad idea. Fucking when she was in this vulnerable state? I opened my mouth, but then she leaned forwards and kissed me, her mouth hot and insistent against mine. As she straddled my thighs, my dick took over my brain, and I forgot all the reasons why we shouldn’t do this. “Fuck,” I groaned against her throat, sliding my hands under her pyjama top. We broke apart so I could pull it over her head, exposing her perfect tits, her nipples hard and begging to be sucked. “Is this what you want?” Cupping her ass and bringing her higher, I took one nipple into my mouth, flicking my tongue over the tip. A moan fell from her lips, the sound going straight to my erect cock. Fuck, I was so hard already, and I just needed to bury myself inside her.

“I need—”

“I know what you need, baby.” I twisted her on top of me, her ass brushing against my bare cock, and I stifled a groan. When she was facing away from me, I eased her underwear down her hips, and then finally, she was completely bared to me. “So glad I sleep naked,” I murmured, trailing kisses down her neck while I palmed her tits.

Her head dropped back against my shoulder, her fingers going down between her legs as she writhed against me, and the sight was so fucking hot that I had to force myself to think of the most unsexy things imaginable so I didn’t come without even getting inside her. “You’re so fucking sexy.” My words were lost as I buried my face in her hair, sliding my hand down her stomach and between her legs to join her hand.

“Cass…” Her voice was so unsteady, so full of need, it made me want to bury my cock inside her and fuck her into the mattress until she was screaming my name. My cock jerked against her, and with effort, I kept my voice level, holding on to my control by a thin thread.

“My turn.”

She obediently moved her hand out of the way, turning her head to capture my mouth in a messy kiss as I stroked over her clit, then eased two fingers into her tight, wet heat.

“Cass.”

“Yeah, baby. Keep saying my name.”

“Cass. Need you inside me. Now,” she panted, gripping my hand and tugging. In an instant, she was spinning around on top of me, lifting up, and easing herself down onto my cock in slow, tortuous increments.

“You feel so good,” I groaned when I was fully buried inside her. My hands gripped her ass as she rolled her hips on top of me. “Mmm. Just like that. Ride my dick.”

Her lips touched mine. “Shut up and kiss me.”

I could take a hint.

Our mouths met in a frenzied kiss. Holding her with one hand, I snaked the other between us, my fingers going to her clit.

“Oh, fuck.” She tore her mouth away from mine, flinging her head back, her movements becoming erratic.

Thrusting up into her, I continued to work over her clit while she squeezed her pussy around my cock.

“I’m—ohhhhh.” She shuddered around me, her rhythm completely gone as she lost herself in her climax.

So. Fucking. Beautiful.

My orgasm barrelled through me without warning, my dick pulsing inside her, filling her with my cum. I might have actually blacked out for a second, because the next thing I was aware of, my arms were around her while she rested her head against my shoulder, both of us breathing hard, our bodies slicked with sweat.

“You’re literally gonna kill me one of these days,” I mumbled into her hair. “I came so hard that I think I blacked out.”

She huffed out a soft laugh, her arms sliding around me. Her lips pressed against my neck, then my jaw, and I smiled.

It didn’t last for more than a few seconds before she was lifting herself up, her gaze shuttered. “I need to clean up.”

The distance she’d suddenly put between us was more than physical. I wasn’t sure why she was pulling away from me, but I wasn’t going to leave her alone right now, in case the nightmares came back.

“I’m staying,” I told her, and her eyes fluttered closed. She pinched her brow, already off the end of the bed and in front of the bathroom door. “Jessa. I’m staying,” I said again, my tone allowing her no room for argument, and she sighed, opening her eyes and giving me a small nod.

I hid my own sigh of relief, turning away from her and climbing off her bed as the bathroom door shut softly behind her. While she was otherwise occupied, I used the opportunity to duck out of her room and into my own bathroom to clean up before I headed back into my bedroom. After pulling on a pair of boxers, because I had the feeling she’d be more comfortable with something between us, I left my room and made myself comfortable in her bed.

When she came out of the bathroom, her eyes darted to the bed, and she chewed on her lip while she stared at me.

“Come here.” I patted the bed next to me. “You need to sleep.”

She gave another one of those tiny nods and climbed in next to me, but lay right on the edge with her back to me, her body stiff and tense. I sighed and reached out, dragging her body against mine. “Sleep. Just sleep.” Curling my arm around her waist, I dropped a kiss on her shoulder, then lay back on my pillow. Her body began to relax in small increments as I just held her, and eventually her breathing evened out and she slept.

I lay awake for a long time.

What was I doing here?