Chapter 80

* Elena *

Reading some of that stuff was like reliving it again, and it hit me hard. It was like being back there again, only now he was here with me, watching my reaction, seeing the pain that I was trying so hard to hide. “I’m sorry I did this to you.” The pain in his voice made my heart ache. I was past wanting him to hurt, I just wanted to put it all behind me, but there was so much to deal with that sometimes it seemed like it would take a lifetime for the wound to heal.

To make matters worse, Janie didn’t seem to have any remorse if the things she’d said tonight were any indication, and for some reason, that really got under my skin. I don’t know what I expected, and I guess it’s a testament to the kind of person I am, but shouldn’t she feel some sort of guilt?

She seemed to paint me as the villain when I was anything but in this farce that they’d made of my life. I only now realized that I’d been biting back my anger at her, always focusing it on him since he was the one I’d been in a relationship with. But after tonight, after the way she dug her heels in tonight, I can’t excuse her.

I never quite knew her place in this whole situation. Was she the seductress who stole my man away from me? Was she an innocent who just got caught up in the middle of everything? Or even worse, some young girl who had been used by her own father to make a name for himself? That last one had been the front-runner until tonight.

Now I know that she was just as duplicitous as all the others involved and maybe even the worst one yet. From what I garnered tonight, her obsession had played a huge part in her being the candidate for Mary’s schemes. Sure, they might have found someone else had she not been there waiting in the wings, but she made it that much easier for them to carry out their disgusting plans.

The whole thing was like some twisted movie with mean girls who went too far. It lacked all humility and humanity and had it happened to someone else, I’d be inclined to think it was all made up. I mean, how depraved do you have to be? And to find a whole group of like-minded people to go along with it just seems preposterous.

But I guess seeing it laid out in print all together like that brought home the severity of the situation, and it was hitting me all at once that a group of people I barely knew had come together with the sole purpose of destroying me.

It seems too farfetched, so draconian, and not at all something I would expect in my otherwise nondescript life. I mean, apart from the acting and singing thing, I’m just a regular girl like everyone else. A girl with hopes and dreams, someone who prides herself on being kind to others and living by certain principles that make me a productive part of society.

I never once imagined myself above anyone else and never wanted to be. I’ve always gone out of my way to remain humble so as not to lose myself, so how had I come to this? What did I do to deserve this hate?

I didn’t realize that I was speaking my thoughts out loud to him until he kept apologizing as he held me close. “None of this was your fault; you have no blame here. I’m sorry I opened that door tonight. I didn’t know it would get so out of hand. I was just trying to give my side of the story for once. To erase all the negativity people are trying to throw at you.”

“No-no, you did nothing wrong; I’m just… it’s just hitting me all at once, plus there were some things that I wasn’t aware of before tonight. I also realize that you were as much a victim as I am. After believing one thing for so long only to learn that I had it all wrong is taking some getting used to.”

And at the heart of it is the fact that I just hate being at the end of such malice. Who’s to stop it from happening again? People like Mary Hudson and her ilk never cease to find ways to harm those they hate; I know that very well. It’s one of the reasons I wanted no part of her or her family.

There were rumors swarming around the whole lot of them long before she tried getting her hooks into me. Had I known that denying her the chance to be my business manager would bring about all this hell, I would’ve avoided her like the plague.

Part of me, the part that I guess every human with an ounce of decency tries to subdue, wanted to break free. I wanted my pound of flesh, wanted to hurt those who hurt me and stole five years of my life. I’m not sure how those thoughts led me to what happened next, but before I could get control of my rising anger, I sunk my teeth into his neck.

“Ouch, what the….” He pulled back and looked down at me in surprise. Whatever I was feeling must’ve shown in my eyes because his nostrils flared as if he could smell my heat, and that special light came into his eyes, but when he tried wrapping his arms around me, I attacked him again.

He had the good sense not to resist as I pushed him to his back and bit my way down his neck, tearing his shirt away so I could get to his chest, where I continued my reign of terror. He winced and hissed in pain as I bit into his flesh, just hard enough to cause pain but not break the skin.

Because he didn’t resist and didn’t try to stop me, I felt empowered, so empowered that I kept going until I came to the bulge behind the zipper of his jeans. “You’re enjoying this,” I growled at the look in his eyes and nipped him through the rough material before easing the zip down around his growth, keeping my eyes on his until his hard cock sprang free from its confines.

“Oh shit!” His back came off the bed when I took him into my mouth, but it was the feel of his hand gripping my hair roughly that spurred me on. I was never the aggressor, never the one to initiate things because I’ve always been too shy in the bedroom, but maybe that was part of the problems in our past.

I’m not stupid enough to blame myself for what happened to us, but I’m woman enough to accept that maybe there are some things about myself that need to change, starting now.

I let myself go, not holding back this time, and did what my heart desired. His groans of pleasure were music to my ears, and for a little while, I forgot everything else but the here and now, though a part of me knew and was very aware that I was running from the fiery rage that was awakened in me by Janie Steven’s blatant disrespect.

***

* Ryder *

What the hell has gotten into her? She’s no shrinking violet in bed, but neither has she ever been the one to take the initiative, not like this anyway. I expected tears, accusations, and even a slap or two, knowing her passionate temper, but this, this was a most welcome surprise.

Our minds had taken the same path, it looked like because I needed to work off the anger that had risen in me after the last hour or so, but I’d been willing to hold myself in check to cater to her needs, whatever they might be. Now it was torturous as hell letting her take the lead and have her way when all I wanted was to throw her to her back and drive into her until the thoughts in my head were no longer there.

I watched her as she took me into her mouth, sucking me in deep, tightening my fist in her hair as she destroyed me with her tongue. Elena is not known for her gag reflex, but tonight she pulled out all the stops and blew my mind.

I knew I was being used, that she was taking out her anger and frustration on me, but I didn’t care; if this was what she needed to assuage whatever was going on in her mind, then so be it; it’s the least I could do. I preferred this to her going back into a shell or, worse yet, tormenting herself back into a hospital bed. If that shit was to happen again, I think I would commit murder.

She went from aggressive to playful in the blink of an eye, and the last almost took me over the edge. I know the little innocent didn’t know where to go from there. Sometimes I forget that I was her first and maybe only; though the world saw her dating other men over the years, they never knew that not one of those men had had her, but I knew.

I always knew because I knew her. I know what she looks like after she’s been fucked, and not one of them had ever put that look on her face. Only me, I’m the only one who she’s ever shared this with, and so I know the limitations of her experience when it comes to sex.

Before, I was always careful with her; even this time around, I’ve held certain things back, always respecting that side of her that only I knew. The shy, sweet innocent that only I got to see. But maybe, maybe, this was what she needed, and she was just waiting for me to bring it out of her all along. And maybe if I had, I wouldn’t have been such a bastard and put myself in the position to be used the way I had been, to hurt her and almost destroy what we had.

“Enough!” Between my thoughts and her actions, I found myself on the brink of release, but I didn’t want to spill in her mouth; I wanted to be buried deep inside her when I came. In concession for her hard work, I didn’t put her on her back or on her knees in front of me but instead dragged her up my body and sat her on my rod, pulling her down hard until there was no part of me that wasn’t inside her.

She stopped in surprise until I smacked her ass with an order, “Ride.”

***

* Lyon *

“You’ve got to be kidding me. How did she pull that one off?”

“I have no idea unless someone else came to L.A. with Arianna; that’s the only thing I can think of.”

“But how did they get into his house? When? And it better not have been my wife.”

“I doubt it. I don’t think she would ask her mother to poison that prick.”

Word just came in that the manager was dead, poisoned, and I have no doubt who was responsible for putting the hit out on him. I’m trying not to think too much, not even to myself, because this shit is getting out of hand. I have a bunch of fucking ten-year-old mass murderers on the loose.

“Who exactly is left on the island? Do we know?”

“What does it matter? There’s nothing we can do about it now.”

“Are the women running their own Op? Tell me that’s not what’s going on here.” Dammit, they pulled a fast one. How the hell did I miss it?

“For fuck sake Mancini, you see what’s going on here? I’m pretty sure Roxy was on that boat, and Vanessa was flying the plane. If someone else put that arrow in that woman’s head, I’ll eat my shirt, so that’s Arianna; who do we have left? Tell me I’m wrong, that what I’m thinking is way out of left field, and the women aren’t involved in this shit.”

“Lyon, are you serious? Do you think they’ve been keeping out of shit this whole time like good little Stepford wives because we told them to?”

“Isn’t your woman a FED? She can’t rein them in?”

“You know damn good, and well, she hasn’t been anything more than a consultant for the agency since we moved to the island.”

“So what, she forgot all her training?”

“No, she just became the mother of a daughter, is all. That kind of changes your perspective on things. Besides, who would know better than her that the law doesn’t work for shit?”

“You knew, didn’t you? That they were getting into this shit. I thought we said after Sicily that they were done.”

“Is this the part of the program where you pretend you didn’t know and lay all the blame at my door?”

“Asshole! I know they’re into shit. I just didn’t know they had gone rogue.” He rolled his eyes at me, which meant he knew I was full of shit. Look, I knew from the moment I caught Mengele using her dog to spy that the women were sticking their noses in shit. I also knew that the more we tried keeping them out, the harder they were gonna try.

I stupidly believed that since they were on an island, miles away from the mainland and away from the worst of what we were dealing with, it was safe, and the worst they could do was eavesdrop on shit. I had no idea that they would go this far or that my wife would let our kid get involved to this extent.

“There’s no way Kat knows what her kid is up to.”

“If you say so. Personally, I think they had some kind of meeting and came to terms with what they have to work with.”

“What the hell does that mean?”

“It means that your wife is smart enough to know that she can’t stop Catalina, and she and her posse came up with the idea of containing her the best way they could.”

“You sound stupid as fuck. We’re talking about a ten-year-old.”

“She started when she was eight. Remember the senator’s aide?”

“Fuck me. I forgot that hump. Wait a minute. Back at Lorde’s, she wanted that chemical. She said something about no-contact assault. Who the hell is she after?”

“At this point, all I can tell you is to just be glad it’s not you or one of us.”

“Do you hear yourself? Do you understand what we’re talking about here? Our women and children are putting out hits and carrying them out.”

“Yeah, but look at who they’re taking out. Pedophiles and child traffickers. Don’t you think that they’d be just as pissed about that as we are?” This fuck. What I want to know is where Kat, with her twenty-eleven children, finds the time.

“Let’s wrap this shit up; we need to get back. I’ve completely lost the plot.” How can she be worse than her mother? I thought for sure Kat would be the one to do my ass in with her shit, but it looks like she’s left it up to her ringer. “Fuck my life!”