Chapter Twenty-Three

It took me nearly two hours to find Blake and Zayden. When I ran out of logical places they could be after finding a dead body in the middle of my dining room, I thought of illogical places, like our family grave site. I had been working late at the security office and hadn’t thought much of leaving Zayden alone with Blake. She hated his guts, and he loved her with everything he was capable of. They were going to be fine for a few hours. Apparently, I was wrong.

As soon as my car crested around the corner of the paved driveway and I spotted Zayden’s bike, fear ran through me. I took off on foot since it was the fastest way to where they no doubt were. Zayden has been irrational since obsessing over Blake, more so than normal. I wasn’t sure what he was capable of. Would he be crazy enough to pull off a murder-suicide, so they were together forever? No fucking question. If I found out that he had harmed a hair on her head, no amount of pain would be enough punishment. I wouldn’t allow him to off himself. I’d torture him for the rest of his days if he took her from me.

When I finally came up to the Graves family cemetery, my feet slowed and my heart stopped beating for several seconds when I heard a moan, not a masculine one either. A feminine one. One that I had been well acquainted with. I heard the love of my life crying out in pleasure, “Zayden!”

He’s taken advantage of her before, several times, and I wasn’t there to protect her. This time would be different, though. When I stepped around the corner, there I saw them, her clothes cut up and strewn all around them. Only, instead of seeing her pinned to the ground, screaming for help, she was on top of him, his shirt drowning her frame as she rode him and shuddered in what looked like pleasure.

It was equally enraging and erotic. I was about to rip her off him for the sake of claiming what was mine when he lifted her up and started walking her toward me. For a moment, I almost allowed myself to be seen. To see what would happen from there, to see if Blake would be as happy for me to be here as I was to see her. For some reason, I didn’t, though. I tucked myself behind the other side of the opposite pillar, and I watched them.

Blake’s moans were loud and filled with ecstasy, while Zayden encouraged her with every thrust. My cock was painfully hard, and before I knew what I was doing, I was taking it out, running my hand over it once or twice just to take the edge off. It wasn’t enough, though. I began working my cock faster and faster as I caught glimpses of Blake’s beautiful ass and perfect pussy getting fucked raw. I imagined my hand was hers, that I was in place of Zayden right now, which wasn’t all that hard since it’s like looking in a mirror.

I was fucking my fist to the sound of my brother fucking my woman, and it only took one more pump before I was coming hard. My vision blurred, and I had to right myself against the pillar just as Blake screamed out her release, Zayden following right along.

I allowed myself one more minute for another breath before I tucked myself away and went back to my car. I drove out the back entrance before they could even see me and went straight home. I finished cleaning up the mess Zayden left behind, stashing the body into the deep freezer in the back room for now until we have better means to get rid of him.

When I finish throwing the last bloodied towel into the washing machine, I hear the snick of the door opening and watch as Zayden steps into the hallway, a sleeping Blake in his arms. He quietly carries her to her room, making eye contact with me and giving absolutely nothing away.

I follow after him as he lays her down on the bed, pressing a kiss to her lips that has my jaw tensing in irritation. Hasn’t he had enough of her already? She broke up with me this morning, told me she hated me, but she’s more than willing to fuck him? The anger and betrayal and hurt of it all are unfair and unjust, and I’m fucking pissed.

Zayden steps away from her, brushing past me as he makes his way down the hall and past both of our rooms. He comes up to the broom closet before pressing his finger down on the scanner, forcing the hidden door to swing open as I follow him inside the room.

He moves through the room casually, jumping up to sit on top of the deep freezer, where his latest kill currently rests. The wall of weapons on display is just across from me, and I seriously consider using some on my brother. Guaranteed, Blake will never fuck him again if he doesn’t have a dick.

“What are you doing up late, brother?” Zayden asks as he swings his legs in a carefree way that very much does not represent my demented brother.

“Oh, you know, cleaning up your messes, driving through cemeteries,” I deadpan.

A single eyebrow raises, but he doesn’t react other than that.

“You been spying on me?”

“Kinda hard not to when you’re fucking her in the middle of the goddamn cemetery!” I roar, not caring how loud I get since the room is soundproof.

“Jealousy is unbecoming on you,” Zayden drawls lazily.

I close the distance between us, grabbing him by the throat and pushing him flat against the wall.

“Fuck. You. We had a deal. You agreed not to touch her. You agreed not to?—”

“Things change, brother. My angel and I made another deal, and it was far sweeter than the one you and I decided on.”

“I don’t want to hear this shit. I want you to back the fuck off. Her whole life is in ruins because of you!”

He scoffs. “Please, what life? To and from work? The occasional visit with her self-absorbed friend who has a whole-ass family and barely enough time for her? She wasn’t being loved the way she deserves, now she can.”

“At the risk of her life, Zayden! How do you not get that? If Maxim finds out about her, which he will, she’s as good as fucking dead. Not today, maybe not tomorrow, but one day.”

Zayden’s eyes turn practically black as he easily shoves me away from him.

“Don’t tell me what’s at stake. You think I don’t know this?” he snarls as he jumps to his feet and begins pacing. His hands are digging through his hair as he mutters to himself almost manically.

“I know! But I’ll protect her. I’ll keep her hidden from him for as long as possible, and when he finds out about her, I’ll talk to him.”

“Fat fucking lot that’ll do. When he finds her, he will make you his bitch forever.”

“So be it! It’s better than living a life without her.”

I shake my head. “You’re so goddamn selfish. She can’t live like this, Zayden. We need to set her up with a new identity, in a new country, and cut all contact. It’s the only way,” I say, the words tasting like acid on my tongue the instant they’re out there.

His eyes go wild, and he leaps for the closest gun, cocking it and pressing it right to my temple.

“Suggest taking her away again, and I will blow your brains all over this room, brotherhood be damned!” he rages, his eyes panicked and wild.

He thinks I’m gonna take her in the middle of the night, not leaving a clue behind. He thinks he’ll have to spend his entire life just trying to find her again, and he’s not wrong. The thought has crossed my mind since the moment I learned about her. Sometimes I still think about it, but I’d like to exhaust every other possibility until then because, though I know Zayden would die without her, I’m not too sure I’d be much better.

“Just stay inside, under the radar. We need to dig some stuff up on Maxim, something that we can pin on him if he threatens her.”

“You’ve been trying to do that for over a decade, and you’ve always come up short,” Zayden throws out.

I nod. “I’ll have to try harder.”

He nods his agreement, and we both stay silent for several moments.

“She calls you Dom,” he says, almost hollowly.

I tense at that, not knowing how to respond, so instead, I nod.

His head turns to the side, silently asking me if I’ve told her, which I haven’t. Not really, at least. I shake my head, to which his shoulders seem to almost slump in relief. We’re quiet for several more seconds before he speaks.

“I’m never going to let her go.”

I look up at him, his stance evenly spaced and rigid. As if he is ready to fight me to the death should it come to that. From what she’s said today and what I saw tonight, though, I’m not sure how much of a fight is really there. She doesn’t want me, maybe she was just in the moment with him, or maybe she does want him. I don’t care either way. At the end of the day, if she doesn’t want me, what the fuck am I supposed to do? I’m not like Zayden. I won’t force her to love me, even if I want to so fucking badly.

“If she wants me, I’ll never let her go either,” I say.

“May the best win, I suppose,” Zayden muses.

“Suppose so.”